Before the Epilogue
by Katie Murray
Summary: It's a month after the battle of Hogwarts. Let's find out what happens before the Epilogue.
1. Chapter 1

**Before the Epilogue**

It was June 2nd, exactly a month after the Battle at Hogwarts and Harry felt as though something was missing from his life. He'd been spending his days most recently at the Weasley's house and was preparing to pack up and leave for Grimmauld Place with the company of Hermione and Ron. On the day of his departure, Harry grabbed his rucksack and moleskin pouch as he left for the home his godfather had left to him. Harry walked with Ron and Hermione to the end of the drive and they twisted into midair. A slow and dark second later, the three were standing outside of a dark, thin house. Harry walked up to the door and slowly pushed it open. He walked into the musty air, thick with dust and dropped his bag onto the ground softly, as though not to wake Mrs. Black. He had been expecting a dust figure of his past headmaster to appear from the carpet he stood on, but the figure did not appear. Harry figured that the curse must have died with the man it was created for. He also noticed that as he had entered his tongue had not curled back as it usually had; another strange sign. Harry walked past Mrs. Black's portrait and towards the kitchen. As he looked around at the still gleaming pots and pans in front of him he felt his legs pull together and squeezed. Harry looked down and saw a scared house elf looking back up at him.

"Oh, Master Harry, strange men came and demanded me to tell them about you, but I did not let you down. I wouldn't tell them a single thing!" Kreacher cried as he let go of Harry's knees. Harry turned around and saw Hermione and Ron walking into the kitchen to stand beside him. Kreacher ran up to them as well, but did not dare to touch them. He simply gave a courteous bow and ran off to do some more cleaning.

"Strange, isn't it, that he would become so devoted?" Ron laughed walking over to the table and sitting down, placing a Daily Prophet on the table next to a copy of the Quibbler. "Take a look there! They're still boasting about you and your battle, Harry."

"Our Battle, Ron," Harry corrected.

"It's the same thing now, isn't it?" Ron asked. Hermione walked over and began to read the newspaper. Kreacher rushed back into the kitchen with bowls of soup in his hands and placed them in front of the trio. Ron hastily dug into his bowl and yelled compliments on the food after Kreacher.

"Look at this," Hermione said, pointing out a story in the Prophet. "They got all of the facts right after all. Now that Kingsley's minister I guess they were able to weed out the death eaters quickly. As well as remedy those who were under the imperius curse." Harry took the paper out of Hermione's hands and began reading at where she had pointed. She was right after all. The facts were just as solid as they had been that very night. Harry dipped his spoon into the soup and tipped it into his mouth. Hermione took back the paper from him and continued to read. Ron was already done with his soup and was chomping on a warm biscuit. A few minutes later, after Ron had gone through two more biscuits, he left to go to the bathroom.

"I'm surprised that you and Ginny haven't gotten together yet, you know?" Hermione commented as she laid down the paper and refolded it, smiling.

"Well, I'm just as surprised that you and Ron haven't taken it any further than that kiss in the hallway during the battle." Harry shot back at her.

"I guess you're right, but that's different. Haven't you and Ginny talked at all?"

"We've talked, explained things. I've told her all about our whole journey and she's told me all about her life at Hogwarts. I was hoping it would pick up where we'd left off, but I'd have expected it not to."

"She wants to be with you, you know. She just didn't know if you were ready."

"Well, in that case, since I'm coming back to the Weasley's for dinner, I'll talk to her then." Harry agreed; a light burning in his chest as he smiled slightly. The group finished their meal and went throughout the house to re-clean everything and make it look as good as new. Harry decided that he would sleep in Sirius' room again, so he unpacked what little things he had and placed them in the drawers among his godfather's teenaged possessions. Later on in the evening, as the light in the sky had begun to fade, Harry apparated to the Burrow and knocked upon the door.

The busied silhouette of Mrs. Weasley came into view through the window and she opened the door to him, pulling Harry into a tight hug as she did so. Harry walked into the sitting room where the rest of the family was and Mrs. Weasley hurried back into the kitchen to continue cooking. Harry sat down in an armchair and looked among the rest of the family. Charlie and Percy were still here from after Fred's funeral, which had been hard to go through for the family, but everyone was able to get through it alright. Bill and Fleur had decided to stay at Shell Cottage, so now they were just waiting for Mrs. Tonks. Although Harry had been made godfather of young Teddy Tonks, Andromeda had insisted that Harry wait for at least a month to take full responsibility of the child. Andromeda arrived in time with the sweet baby and the family set down for dinner. The food was delicious, as Mrs. Weasley's cooking always was, and it seemed to disappear in little less than an hour. The crowd at the table dispersed throughout the house and Harry pulled Ginny out into the moonlit garden with him. They took a walk through the trees and made fun at kicking the gnomes as they poked their mischievous grins out from under the brush.

"Ginny?" Harry asked after a while of talking.

"Yes?" She answered, looking even more beautiful to him than ever before.

"Ginny, I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me sometime. There is this really great place near Grimmauld Place that I think you would like."

"Of course I do, Harry. I would love to go out with you."

"Great, so how about we go tonight? For dessert?" Harry looked expectantly into her laughing eyes.

"Tonight? But don't you think they'll notice we're gone?" Ginny laughed.

"I don't think so. There are quite a few people in that house and it might take them a while to find us anyways." Ginny chuckled and Harry grabbed her arm as they turned on the spot and appeared a second later outside of a little ice cream shop. Harry took her hand and the couple walked into the shop. They sat at a table and talked as they ate their lovely iced delicacies.

"So, Ginny, would you consider doing this with me again sometime?" Harry asked hopefully as he finished off his treat.

"Hmm, I think I'll have to consider that one…" Ginny joked. "Yes." The pair smiled and they walked out into the fresh summer air. "Harry?"

"Yes, Ginny?"

"Would you consider giving me a first date kiss, seeing as this is technically our first date?"

"I don't think that I'll have to consider that for very long," Harry smiled as he leaned into her face and pressed his lips against hers. This kiss was soft and sweet and never-ending. Harry pulled back and looked into Ginny's brown eyes and she looked back at him, biting her lip.

"We should be getting back now," Harry said.

"Yeah, probably," Ginny agreed. Harry grasped her hand and they twisted into the suffocating darkness. They appeared a moment later outside of the crowded Burrow. Ginny pulled Harry by the hand through the door. They were soon catapulted with questions and were yelling out excuses and apologies through the loud din. Once the questions had calmed down and people had started leaving for their homes, Harry bid the Weasley's and Hermione farewell. Hermione and Ron walked out of the house and left for Ron's flat in the city. Harry disapparated to Grimmauld Place and walked into the dimly lit foyer. He staggered up the stairs and fell happily into Sirius' bed and quickly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Harry's days were filled with happiness and a fulfillment that he had only felt at sparse times in his life. His days were spent with Ron and Hermione, and his nights with Ginny. He was as happy as he had ever been, but his bank account was dwindling and Mrs. Tonks had insisted that Harry get a job before he takes Teddy. She was especially insistent after she'd found out that Harry was still unemployed. So, he deemed it important to complete his wizard training, seeing as he would never be an auror without one.

On Sunday morning, Harry spent breakfast at the Weasley's and then left for the ministry. He vaguely remembered how he had entered when he was in his fifth year at Hogwarts, but he attempted at remembering. Harry found the phone booth and stepped inside. He remembered Mr. Weasley punching a few numbers into the dial, he couldn't remember which ones, but racked his brain as hard as he could to remember. Six…two…four…another four…and a two, Harry heard the dial swivel back into its place and heard a cool female voice speak from the talk box.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business." The detached voice said.

"Uhm, Harry Potter. I'm here to see Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Thank you, visitor. Please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes." Harry heard a soft clink at the bottom of the coin return and pulled out a shiny silver badge. He pinned it to the front of his shirt as the booth began to descend. He was submerged into darkness, completely swallowed, but soon he began to see a light grow brighter at his feet. The booth came to a halt on the ground of the busy work office. Harry stepped out of the booth and into the dimly lit hall, filled with people running about and shoving Daily Prophets in his face. Harry ignored them and kept on walking until he reached the elevator. He stepped inside and thought that Kingsley might be on the first floor, but he wasn't sure. So, he punched the number in anyways. When he reached floor one, the cool detached voice spoke again, but Harry wasn't listening. He stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall with its silent rug and towards the Minister's office. Harry made his way throughout the floor, taking note that someone else had replaced Umbridge's office and hoped that she had been fired. At the back of the floor, Harry found a heavy wooden door that read Kingsley's name on a plaque. He knocked upon the door and heard rushed footsteps come to answer it.

"Harry!" Kingsley exclaimed as he grabbed Harry's hand and shook it violently.

"Hello, Kingsley," Harry answered.

"Oh, please come in!" Harry did so and followed him to the back of a regal room. Harry took one sweeping glance and sank down into the chair across from Kingsley. "So, Harry, what do you need?"

"Well, it's been a month after the battle at Hogwarts and I was wondering what on earth I was going to do. I haven't had my last year of training and I was considering becoming an auror."

"Well," Kingsley started, "I think that we could make an exception to you not finishing your last year of school. I think that would be quite alright. You would just have to take a test of your skill and what you would do in a situation and we would hire you."

"Is it really that easy?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"Yes," Kingsley laughed. "It is really that easy." Harry shook Kingsley's hand again and scheduled a time to take the test with the auror's office on level 7 and left for Grimmauld Place. Harry would have to come back to the Ministry through the visitors' entrance again on the 15th of June to take his test. Harry left feeling pleased with himself and apparated, once out of sight, to Grimmauld Place. Harry walked quietly through the hall and sat himself down at the kitchen table. Kreacher brought out a sandwich and a glass of lemonade for him and went off to go clean some more. Harry ate his sandwich quickly and chugged his glass of lemonade in a few seconds. Once he was all finished, Harry left to go to the Weasley's, the Burrow, yelling thanks to the little house elf as he went. Harry apparated to the gate of the Burrow and walked through it. He made his way to the door and opened it, hearing voices in the kitchen.

"Hello?" Harry called through the oddly quiet house. "Is anyone home? It's Harry." Harry heard some odd rustlings in the kitchen and went to take a look. He pulled out his wand as he saw a dark figure standing above the sink, as though contemplating something. The dark figure turned and Harry caught a glimpse of vibrant red hair.

"It's just me, silly," Ginny cried as she pulled down her hood.

"Oh, sorry," Harry apologized, "just bad habits, I guess. But would you mind answering a question for me."

"Yes, go ahead."

"What was a rumor going around the school in my sixth year that you started?"

"Harry?" Ginny asked worriedly, "What's the meaning of this?"

"Please, just answer the question."

"Well, that would be that you had a Hungarian Horntail tattooed to your stomach."

"Okay," Harry said, sighing and pulling Ginny into a close hug. "I just wanted to make sure; I'm still a little paranoid." Ginny said it was okay and kissed him quickly. They sat down in her bedroom to talk. Harry told her all about his journey to the Ministry and about his job lineup and test. Ginny congratulated him and the two left the room as they heard unmistakable signs of approach. Ginny beat him to the door and held it open to the couple who walked in. George and Angelina went towards the sitting room and asked where Mrs. Weasley was as they went.

"…She went out," Ginny answered.

"Any idea where Ron is?" her older brother asked Ginny nicely, wrapping his arm around his former Quiditch team mate.

"I think he's with Hermione at the flat," she replied.

"Dad?"

"Ministry."

"Charlie?"

"Romania."

"Bill?"

"Shell Cottage with Fleur." Harry figured that George must have run out of questions, because he left the house, pulling Angelina along with him and the two apparated into thin air at the gate. Ginny laughed at the scene and took Harry by the hand.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"You'll see…" Ginny said tauntingly. She asked Harry to close his eyes and led him through the house. She warned Harry as she apparated into smoldering darkness and told Harry to keep his eyes shut. Harry kept his eyes closed and she led him along.

"Okay," Ginny said after a few more minutes of walking. "You can open your eyes now." Harry's lids flashed open and he looked around. He was standing in a dark room and couldn't see much farther than past his hands.

"What is this, Ginny?" Harry asked confusedly. Ginny didn't answer him, but attacked him with her lips. She was kissing him as though she'd never kissed him before. Harry's hormones reacted and his hands were in her hair and at her back. His thoughts flashed back to their kiss on his seventeenth birthday, almost a year ago. This kiss was more intense than back then and filled with more longing. Ginny began to pull her hands down to his shirt tail and lift it up over his head. Harry pushed Ginny away slightly and held her hands in his.

"What are we doing, Gin?" he asked her.

"I thought that we were going to…" Ginny trailed off.

"I don't think that we should, quite yet. Maybe, we could just wait for a while?"

"Thank goodness you said that. I didn't want to take that step either, I thought that was just what you wanted." Harry pulled her face up to his and kissed her quickly and pulled her into a tight hug. Ginny led them both out of the room and back to Grimmauld Place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Harry's eyes opened slowly as he looked into the bright sun streaming through the curtains.

"Time to wake up, Master Harry," Kreacher said, pulling the curtains open. "You have to take your test today." Harry rolled over onto the other side so that he couldn't see the sun anymore. "Master Harry," Kreacher continued, "You must wake. Mister Kingsley Shacklebolt will not be pleased with you. I have breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen. Get ready and come." Kreacher finished walking out of the room, his golden locket bouncing off his chest.

Harry ruefully slumped out of bed and put on a fresh pair of robes. He tried to comb his hair and did his best to flatten it, but accepting inability to do so, he walked down into the kitchen. Kreacher was standing by a platter of bacon and eggs with oatmeal and a glass of fresh orange juice. Harry sat down at the head of the table and thanked Kreacher as he ran off to do another chore awaiting him. Harry ate slowly and surely thinking over what questions the test would ask as he did.

Harry finally apparated from Grimmauld Place late in the morning to the Ministry's guest entrance, the same entrance he had gone through last week. He entered the numbers, put on his badge, and the booth began to descend. Harry stepped out of the small compartment and walked out into the hall with witches and wizards surrounding him. Harry entered the elevator and it slowly fell down to the Department of Mysteries. Harry stepped out into the cold hallway and got a familiar chill up his spine. He shook it off and walked into the room marked 'Auror Testing'.

"Welcome," a short and friendly wizard said at the front door as Harry entered, "State your name, please."

"Harry Potter."

"Well, Merlin's beard! I'll be!" the wizard exclaimed as he shoved Harry proudly through the door into the capacious room where desks stood, lined up in an orderly fashion. Harry shuddered as he remembered the OWL's in his fifth year; the desks were lined up in just the same way. Harry sat down at a desk somewhere in the middle and waited for the rest of the aurors to be file in, one by one. The test started at noon and it overwhelmed Harry. Some of the things he was asked he had never even heard of. Bits and pieces he could sift through his memory and remember hearing of, but others seemed like phrases from a fairytale. Harry finished his test just a few hours later and was dismissed from the room for lunch.

After his ravenous appetite had been quenched, Harry walked back into the testing area. The desks had been pushed aside and combat dummies had been strategically placed around the room. The proctors asked the aurors to stand adjacent to a dummy and they would yell out dueling spells to be performed against them. Harry did well with this part; all of his lessons teaching the students of Hogwarts and running for his life from death eaters over the past couple years had proven handy. Harry was able to cast every charm perfectly. As the evening drew to a close, Harry felt good about his test. He left the Ministry for the Burrow and arrived at the gate in just a few seconds. Harry let himself in and was greeted by a kiss from Ginny as he walked through the doorway. The Weasley's had already had dinner, so Harry simply heated up a plate for himself. Ginny sat by him as he ate, telling him about her day.

"…and so then Ron got in a fight with Mum and it turned into this huge awful mess and now he's skipped dinner with Hermione." Ginny finished. "How was your day? And your test?"

"My day was good," Harry answered; swallowing his last bite of Mrs. Weasley's wonderful cooking. "I feel pretty confident about my test, but I'm sure that I did poorly on the writing part."

"I'm sure that you did wonderfully," Ginny replied, smiling widely.

"Thanks, Gin," Harry said, pulling Ginny's chin towards his own and quickly pressing his lips against hers. Ginny pulled back and grinned back at him. She took his plate from the table and set it in the sink.

"Harry?" Ginny called.

"Yes?" Harry answered.

"What are we exactly? Because I'm quite confused myself," Ginny asked, furrowing her brow.

"I don't know. What do you want to be?"

"Can I be your girlfriend?"

"I suppose you could," Harry laughed pulling her into a tight embrace once again. Harry continued to kiss her intensely, but he soon felt Ginny's gentle tug. Harry pulled back and searched her eyes. "Something wrong?"

"I don't deem that quite appropriate for a family dinner," Ginny sighed. Harry agreed and the two left the kitchen and went to go sit down in the sitting room. Mr. Weasley and Bill, who'd come over for dinner with Fleur (who was in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley), were discussing something in the sitting room; Harry sat down at a chair with Ginny at his side and attempted to catch on to the conversation.

"…You see, she really wants one, but I'm not quite sure. They can cause a lot of trouble." Bill was saying.

"I know what you mean, you let her get exactly what she wants all of the time and you might end up like me…" Mr. Weasley said, chuckling at his own joke.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Harry said, "but I was just wondering – what are we talking about exactly? I'm a bit confused…"

"Fleur wants a child," Bill stated. "I'm not sure if I'm ready though."

"Why don't you two take care of Teddy for a little bit and just a feel for what real parenting feels like?" Harry suggested.

"Are you sure you're okay with that, Harry?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, Andromeda is the one you have to worry about," Harry laughed.

"Thanks so much, Harry," Bill said.

"Anytime." Harry continued to chat with the Weasley family, when Fleur's delicate figure appeared from behind the door frame. She called the group to dinner and they sat down at the Weasley's long table. Harry took a seat next to Ginny and across from Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione had just reached the Burrow only a few minutes before and were still flustered by the odd whipping winds outside. Harry enjoyed the meal and he and Ginny left for Grimmauld Place late into the night.

Harry took Ginny by the hand and led her up the stairs and into the quiet hall. They crept up the stairs to the sitting room and tore off their jackets, throwing them to the side. Harry threw himself at Ginny, placing his hands on either side of her face. Ginny responded and kissed him back. Their kissing became feverish and fiery. Soon, Ginny had led Harry to the sunken couch and pulled herself closer to him. Harry's hands left the side of her face and moved to her thigh. Ginny laid her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him back.

This felt right to Harry, everything about it. Harry was with Ginny, and Ginny was with him. The world was at peace and peace was held in this beautiful face so close to his. Harry's body burned with internal fire and the only thing he could think about was Ginny, at his side once more. Ginny left for the burrow again late into the night, leaving Harry filled with joy and pleased with himself. Harry went up to Sirius' room and fell fast asleep.


End file.
